


Night In

by quiet__tiger



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Drama, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 05:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10713615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: Getting Bruce to come over was tough, but Selina had a back up plan.





	Night In

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "What the Protagonist Wants," with the scenario "Selina Kyle wants Bruce to come for dinner at her apartment."
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal 29th-Apr-2009.

Getting in touch with Bruce Wayne was difficult for Selina Kyle. All she wanted to do was thank the man for sponsoring a fundraiser for the wildlife society. She’d seen him at another event, hinted around, and he’d smiled that sexy smile and told her he’d take care of it.

So she wanted to thank him. Personally. And if a little more than dinner were to occur, well, she was being a good host. A good host with a handsome and kindhearted friend.

That same friend, however, would have to stop _avoiding_ her. First he was in Japan. Then Switzerland. Then he was in meeting after meeting. At his own home Alfred always informed Selina, “Master Bruce is occupied at the moment, Miss Kyle, but I will give him your message.”

Well. If Bruce Wayne wouldn’t make time for her, she had a better way to get in touch with him. She made one more call to Wayne Manor.

A few days later Selina prepared for her night. She pulled on her costume and checked herself in the mirror to make sure it still looked good on her. As if she had anything to worry about, really. Bruce couldn’t _buy_ affection from a hotter woman. Or, okay, maybe he could, but it would never be real the way it was with Selina.

She checked everything over again and after stretching one last time, Catwoman climbed out of the apartment and ascended the fire escape. She jumped and swung from roof to roof until she found Batman and Robin. They were braced on and straddling a rooftop ledge respectively, and Catwoman approached them silently.

She could be invisible and floating and Batman would realize she was there, so she wasn’t surprised at his almost-grunted greeting of, “Catwoman.”

“Batman.” She stopped a few feet behind him and cocked her hip, going for a subtle “come hither” pose. Robin gawked—sometimes the young ones really were easier—and eventually Batman turned. With his cowl, she wouldn’t see if he cocked an eyebrow, but she was pretty confident that he didn’t anyway.

She walked towards him, fingering the grip of her whip. “Fancy meeting you here. Why have you been avoiding me?”

Partially turning back to his city (damaged but faithful lover, whatever), Batman grunted, “I’ve been busy.”

“I just wanted to show my… _appreciation_.” She added a slight purr to her words, and Batman seemed to show a slight twitch of interest. Or maybe it was some sort of gesture to Robin, because the little bird’s jaw finally shut with a click.

“I told you, I’m busy.”

“You didn’t tell me anything, _Brucie_. You were nice, so I wanted to repay the favor. It’s not my fault you’re so emotionally stunted you can’t accept a gesture of thanks.”

That might have been a sigh and a sagging of Bruce’s shoulders. But he didn’t say a word, just went back to looking over his dysfunctional urban domain.

Selina, however, wasn’t going to back down. Bruce was just going to have to learn how to be a person who could accept thanks, and he had to learn how to have a normal relationship with a woman. If he was afraid of intimacy, he just had to say so, and they could simply be friends.

Not that anything with Bruce was simple, and not that the chemistry between them was in any way deniable. But she didn’t want to push him into anything that would make him uncomfortable.

Except in this instance.

Robin was watching her again, and she nodded at him. Within seconds Robin had reached into his belt, retrieved some sort of Bat equipment, and used whatever was inside to knock Batman unconscious. Together they carried his heavy body to the ground and into the Batmobile.

“Thanks, Little Bird. Couldn’t have done it without you.”

“It’s not like you want to lock the guy up in your extra room and torture him. You just want to feed him.” There was a bit of leer at that, but he was a cute kid and so Selina could forgive it. “And he has to learn sometime.”

“That he does.”

They parked in an alley near her apartment and they carried him up the fire escape and inside. “Thanks again. I’ll bring him home in one piece, I promise.”

Robin grinned. “Take your time. Alfred and I could use a break.” With that he left through the window and down the fire escape, and a minute later she could hear the Batmobile speed off to somewhere else.

After changing out of her own costume and into a comfortable but pretty dress, Selina carefully removed Batman’s cowl. She smoothed down Bruce’s hair, hoping he’d wake up soon. Robin promised the spray would last at least an hour, but he couldn’t be sure how much longer it’d be effective.

All this work to make a meal for a man, because he deserved it and _needed_ it. Speaking of which… She went to the kitchen and set out everything that didn’t need to be heated. By the time she was ready with everything, she heard heavy footsteps out in the living room.

She walked cheerily into the other room, and Bruce scowled at her. “This is kidnapping.”

Selina rolled her eyes. “You are, by far, the most dramatic man I’ve ever met, and I once dated a theater major.”

“You had my partner drug me and bring me here against my will. That’s kidnapping.”

Finally Selina gave up. “Fine, Bruce. Go home. If you really want to be an ass, if you really don’t want me to thank you personally for the work you did for me, if you don’t want a nice _meal_ , in the company of a _friend_ , just go home.”

He looked… Maybe he looked a little upset. Maybe a little chagrinned. “I just—”

“No, Bruce, there’s no ‘just.’ Nothing is ever _just_ with you.”

“What do you want?”

“What do I want? Nothing. To say thank you. To be your friend. We both know we get along well. Why not explore that a little? I’m not asking for marriage or even a night on the town where people can see us. I want you to sit and eat. God forbid.”

She went back into the kitchen and started to put plates away, but a large, sweaty hand rested on her wrist. “Don’t. I want to stay.”

“Oh really?” She turned to him and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Yes.”

“Why have you been avoiding me?”

“Because of this.” She felt her face fall, and Bruce verbally backed up. “No, I mean… What we have. To make it more than what it’s been… it’s a bit difficult. For me. You’re not like other women.”

“Damn straight I’m not. I’m better.”

He flashed one of his sexy grins. “You are.” The smile fell away as he continued, “And it scares me. Getting close. I mean. You know.”

Selina felt her face twitch with guilt. How could she expect Bruce to even meet her halfway? He was Bruce Wayne. She’d even called him ‘emotionally stunted’ before. Why hadn’t she just listened to herself? “I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget. Brucie is so vapid and Batman is so dark. But you… _Bruce_ … I want to spend time with you. Just dinner. Nothing else.”

He sized her up and must have liked what he saw, because he nodded. “I’d like that.” He smiled slowly, the one that was all Bruce Wayne and the one that was real.

“Okay. Let me heat things up.”

Bruce stood there awkwardly in the middle of her kitchen, looking horribly out of place in his costume. Isis wound herself between his feet, and Bruce looked down nervously.

Then Selina finally remember something rather important. “Oh! I forgot, there’s a change of clothes for you in the bag by the door. Alfred lent them to me.”

“Alfred.”

“Yes.”

“Alfred helped you with this endeavor as well?”

“He’s very helpful.”

Bruce sighed. “I know. That’s what he gets paid for. Of course, he’s supposed to help _me_ …” Grumbling, Bruce went into the living room to change, and Selina turned back to the rest of the necessary preparations for dinner. Or whatever meal it was at 11pm.

While the evening thus far wasn’t ‘so far, so good,’ she had hope that it would turn out to be relaxing and fun. A night with a friend. And maybe, after a few more tries, there’d be more there between them. More acknowledged, anyway. There was plenty there, Bruce just had to open himself up to it.

Or at least she could see if Selina and Bruce worked, or if they should keep their relationship strictly professional, with all dalliances requiring costumes and masks and rooftops and moonlight. Batman and Catwoman had their moments together, certainly.

Bruce walked back into the kitchen dressed casually, and Selina smiled. The one he gave her in return was warm and genuine. It was nice to see. It made the effort of getting him into her apartment for dinner all worthwhile.


End file.
